Not being able to find things when you need them is a huge time suck and can cause a lot of stress. There’s something about having your space neat and clean, and being able to find everything when you need it, that will give you a sense of peace. Some research even links a clean house with better mental health.
Is your home jam-packed, full of things that you never use, or can’t find because everything is willy nilly throughout your house? It might be time to eliminate some of the stress in your life by eliminating some of the stuff that you don’t need.
No matter what stage of “organized” your home is in, it’s never a bad time to make a few changes. I mean, you gotta start somewhere, right? This is not the time to get hung up on the big picture! If you’ve been living in a cluttered space for a long time, you’ll want to focus on one room at a time and work your way through the entire house gradually. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you can eat an elephant one bite at a time and all the other "take it one step at a time"-isms.
Pick a room and go through it, dividing everything into these 3 groups; keep it, donate it, or toss it. Perhaps the best place to start is the area or room of your home that is stressing you out the most.
Here are a few rules to keep in mind when you get started;
Everything needs to have a spot.
Make sure that the things you use on a regular basis are easy to access.
Get rid of things you no longer use - this is where you can choose to donate or toss your stuff.
Keep an ongoing donation box and take it to wherever you’re donating it to every month.
Here are a few storage ideas;
Keep your kitchen counter cleared off. You don’t need your slow cooker sitting on the counter when you aren’t using it every day, right? Make a spot for it in a cupboard.
Clean out the cupboards under your sinks. Who needs that many cleaners anyway? I have one bottle that cleans all the things and it’s safe for babies and pets! Yes, really!
Utilize the space under your beds. You can get some inexpensive compression bags that work really well to store spare blankets, pillows, off season clothes etc. I have some nifty flat plastic storage containers that store my wrapping paper under one bed. Another plus for storing things under the bed is that the dust bunnies get moved around occasionally. Winning!
Deal with your mail when it arrives and throw out the junk. At my house it goes in the burn box since we have a wood stove in our basement.
The laundry room…..this is a biggie! I have 3 laundry baskets in the laundry room; one for light colours, one for dark colours, one for towels. The clothes get sorted when they go in the baskets, when a basket is full the load gets washed, dried, folded and put away. My dryer is what generally gets the wrinkles out of the clothes so it eliminates the need to iron. Leaving a load in the dryer for a day or three would not be helpful in the ironing department!
Get some over-the-door storage hangers. I use a couple of them for my scarves. It’s much easier than rummaging through a drawer to find the one I need.
Use dividers in your drawers to help keep things in their spot. With all the time you save looking for things, you'll be able to spend more time doing fun stuff!Label your storage containers so you don’t need to open each one to see what’s in it.
Hang a key holder next to the door most often used at your house and use it. This might actually be a marriage saver tip so you're welcome!
So, I hope these tips help you a little on your quest to organize your home. Stay tuned for more tips in a future blog.
Have a fabulous day!
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